Heroic Finances!

speanoz

Before I leave for an evening nap, I've had a thought in my head for a little while now: how do full time heroes make money?

In particular, what kind of financial services are available to those who pursue heroics full time or simply have no other means of making an honest dollar? I assume that larger entities like PRIMUS and UNTIL are able to provide some modicum of support to those under their official employ. Are there legislation(s) in effect to help those who help others? Can a "full time hero" even make enough to "get by"?

Hopefully this one isn't too close to home. I'm rather curious if some of my spandex fighters can even justify making ends meet!

bulgarex

Well, there are quite a few superhumans who are employed full-time by national governments or UNTIL, and are therefore paid a regular salary and other benefits. Others supers with a history of working with such groups, like the Champions, may receive some degree of financial and material support. It's not uncommon for well-known heroes or teams to receive grants or donations from national or more local governments, or from private individuals and corporations, as a reward for their continued service to the public. Of course any hero who belongs to a team with a solid financial base will likely be supported by that team.

It's not unknown for superheroes to use their abilities and public profiles to obtain private sponsorship. The Binary Corporation employs a superhero "mascot," Binary Man, for public relations purposes. Cavalier of Millennium City regularly endorses various companies and products for pay.

Outside of those avenues, full-time heroes either have to be independently financially secure, or else spend some time working at a more mundane job to make ends meet. That last is most common for heroes with a secret identity, but sometimes superhumans will openly use their powers to make jobs for themselves. For example, the founder of Trans-City Construction, Jeff Baker, gets much use out of his powers of matter transmutation to speed up construction projects, which is a selling point with clients.

speanoz

bulgarex wrote: »

.... For example, the founder of Trans-City Construction, Jeff Baker, gets much use out of his powers of matter transmutation to speed up construction projects, which is a selling point with clients.

Well, this last bit was especially interesting. I guess it's only natural that some heroes would use their talents wisely!

bulgarex

The majority of paranormals on Champions Earth either don't have the type or magnitude of powers to compete in the Superhuman World subculture, or just want to live normal lives. People with minor powers, such as enhanced reflexes, unusual durability, or precognitive flashes, may not even realize they have them. However, some of those people can still have a significant impact. For example, the relatively minor healing powers of the famous Dr. Jeremiah Mugembe have done more to alleviate AIDS in Africa than all the pharmaceutical companies in the world combined. Workers with Habitat for Humanity in the city of Atlanta have frequently been helped by an anonymous benefactor who can construct entire houses overnight.

Bastion Alpha Security, a high-profile private security company (fully written up in Cops, Crews, And Cabals), includes one of the more intriguing paranormals in that category. Founded by Anderson Powell, the retired superhero Titan, the company's greatest selling point is its secret Bastion Process, which physically augments BAS field agents. The most powerful, and therefore expensive, agents count as low-level superhumans. The Bastion Process was developed by Powell's secret partner, Dr. Ivan Fortus. Unknown even to Powell, Dr. Fortus did not invent or discover the Process. Fortus is a mutant who can covertly extract DNA by touch from one person, and insert it into the cells of another, passing on some qualities of the donor. Dr. Fortus uses Powell's own DNA to give BAS agents some of the former Titan's power.

rhymere

my speedster is a pizza transport specialist.

bulgarex

Champions Universe p. 60 mentions a speedster named Roberta Yelnofsky who founded "Yesterday Delivery" in New York City. Her corporate motto is, "When you need it there yesterday!"

guardiannexus

Now I want an entire game arc with Trans-City Construction fixing Westside and getting harassed by the purple gang working for Argent with Jeff Baker and needing protection (Since Argent wants the repair rights in the city for monopoly purposes). So we have parts of the city that can be "fixed" and cleaned by way of an open mission chain then have purple gang augmented by Argent tech and then Argent enemies attacking in a rampage with new Argent bad guys from the lore with Kevin Poe working along side the enemy.

metalheart

Corporate life, baby
https://youtube.com/clip/UgxPHcpI8AGuFi4ceD14AaABCQ

phoenixc

Some probably work as some sort of contractor or whatever who is not closely supervised and can secretly use their powers to "cheat" and make the jobs take a fraction of the time they normally would. For instance, in one of my old campaigns one of the PCs could manipulate metal and precisely mill/shape, weld, plate, or whatever in seconds and so would get a full day's work done in about a half hour then go out on patrol.

The first Champions character I made as a player (way back in first edition) was a US Martial based in small office in the campaign city who was secretly a density brick. Much of her superheroing was off-the-books work on the cases she was handling during the workday (she didn't need much sleep so it all worked out) and that combining a normal job with superhero activity is probably another common setup (it is a classic anyway, the reporter/superhero thing more or less).

speanoz

Some great additional inputs folks.

bulgarex

Another possibility is for a superhuman to have a power that allows them to produce wealth on demand. The "Midas Touch" is the classic example, but there are others in Champions. The supervillain called Geothermal was once a geophysicist who was transformed into a powerful being of living rock and magma. Even though he's no longer human looking and was explicitly not wealthy before his transformation, Geothermal's Hero System character sheet lists him as being "Filthy Rich." Since he can pass rapidly through the Earth with little effort, I interpret that as him finding and extracting precious metals, gemstones, and the like.

A previous incarnation of the Champions Universe featured a hero named Doctor Wraithe, a sorcerer with probability-altering magic, which he used to manipulate a lottery to make himself the grand prize winner.

sapphiechu

One of my alts, Unbreakable Girl, is a TV journalist that secures action footage from up close during super-fights. She has basically off the charts, but she's naturally also very durable and super-strong. While WCOC gets footage from a helicopter, her small company, Freedom News Network, is down on the ground, her shoulder-mounted, salvaged, destrium-encased video camera getting the action. That she occasionally ends up being part of the action is merely a byproduct of her being in the wrong places at the right times. Partnered with a techie second camerawoman, Lens, together they get raw footage to sell to both local, national and even international news agencies.

metalheart

Bios are all too important. I like to storm up living situations and all these things when creating characters. My range of origins on my stuff are so broad. My main himself uses his technopathics to build robots and weapons for companies like UNTIL and for
commercial domestic use. Making him a household name till they used his weapons to frame him. They cancelled his robotic in most countries. He doesn't need money being immortal but he uses that to fund his armies and so. Though immortal and slightly evil good guy his image to the humans are very important. And he is not free from bad press. Though he could effortlessly do crime that's just not his way to rob banks. And if the government goes against Rave we talking nuclear devastation that is not needed. There's cartoons like Dexter's Lab that never explains where all this income comes from and is awful writing heroes like this.

Weather it be a rich born team member sponsered. Payed and sponsored by companies. Or in the ghetto struggling. There's the bums, dancers, models, company owners, the oriental village dwellers, all these characters do have some sort of job or money coming from somewhere. Even Quantum Caveman went form absolutel brute to politician and the was themed or Arnold schwarzenegger. It shows the ability to make characters adjust to the world around them.

To add I like to read bios. But some people write so much mountains of texts. And some how never explain any of the importance.